The Baby Standard: a self-help guide for parents

We took 3 kids under 5 to a professional sporting event and survived.

2013-08-30T07:13:00.001-07:00

We have season tickets to the Redskins, but only have two seats so my husband usually goes with a friend for most of the games and we go together for a couple of the games each season. This past weekend we were given two extra tickets and we decided to take the kids and make it a family day. For reference, our kids are 4 1/2, 2 1/2, and 4 months old.

We got to the tailgate at our usual time, a few hours before the game started. While we set up the girls got comfortable and spread out their many many toys. We brought a bean bag toss with us and that kept both girls entertained for awhile, especially once everyone else broke out their bean bag toss. That really got our oldest in to throwing them and man, she's pretty good, too.

The girls spent most of the tailgate running around, climbing in and out of the car, and snacking on junk. They had zero interest in eating their lunch (shocker) and only wanted to drink multiple juice boxes and eat cupcakes.

We're in the midst of potty training our middle child and did spend quite a bit of time running her back and forth to the port-a-potty. She kept holding herself and dancing around, but then refused to go once we got to the port-a-potty. I can't say I blame her - I'm not a huge fan of them either. Luckily she finally did go before we headed up to the stadium. The baby spent the tailgate snoozing on a blanket and then hanging out with me and my husband. He was super chill, as always.

We packed up earlier than usual to give us plenty of time to head up to the stadium and then take the girls to the potty (again) because they always always have to go again.

We had planned to try to all sit together, but since we got to the seats so early the people around us weren't yet there, so we split up, my husband took our oldest with him and I had the baby and our 2 1/2 year old with me. #2 loved, I mean L-O-V-E-D the stadium environment. She was jumping and singing and yelling and having a great time. I pointed out the giant blow up helmet that the players run through and explained that there would be fireworks and lots of music. She was in heaven when everything started, the band, the cheerleaders, fireworks, music, booing the Bills, and cheering for the Skins. She even knows most of the chorus of our fight song. Bbay boy ate and then promptly passed out until we got up to leave.

We ended up leaving right before halftime, which worked out well for us since the game didn't start until 4:30 and the kids didn't nap. All in all we had a great time and I'm glad we made it a family trip. Here are some things I would do again and some things I would do differently if we did this again.

Get to the tailgate early. We arrived about 3 and a half hours early which allowed us to take our time with set up and cooking and breakdown. And it gave the kids plenty of time to run around.

Run the kids into the ground pre-game. We didn't do enough of this and I wish we had them run around a bit more to get more of their energy out.

Bring a training potty. Neither of the girls like the port-a-potty and it takes a Herculean effort to get them to pee in one. We saw another group set up a little personal potty with curtains and everything and agreed that next time (if there is one) we'll definitely bring a little potty for the kids.

Feed the kids until they're full pre-game. No way do we ever spend a cent once we're inside the stadium. Snyder is already getting plenty of our money and I have zero interest in forking over $10 for a crappy lite beer. Of course the girls didn't really eat pre-game and saw everyone with food and immediately started in with the "I wants."

Pick a day game. 1:00 or 4:30 are good times to go with young kids. 4:30 was pushing it a bit, but they would have made it through if we had different seating, which brings me to...

Make it fun! Point out all of the things a kid would love. The fireworks! Music! Yelling! (oh, the yelling. lol) Singing! Jumping! High fiving! Our kids are a little too young to grasp the rules of the game, but they can understand something as simple as "follow the guy who has the ball."

Teach them the fight song. Learn 'em young so they can participate in the fun when the home team scores. No one wants to be that person sitting there while everyone else is singing along. Bonus points if you can make up some fun dance moves to go along with it.

Sit together! We split up since we were using our tickets and my uncle's, but next time I would make it a point to sit together. Had we done that we definitely would have made it through the whole game. And I might not have missed kick off due to #2 insisting that she go potty. Again.

Leave early. Yeah, I know. You're paying a butt load for the tickets and you want to get your money's worth out of them. BUT. If you leave just a little early you're guaranteed to get back to your car and on the road before the hoards of other people. No need to be stuck in traffic with overtired kids.

Have snacks ready for the ride home. Since we don't spend money in the stadium and the kids didn't really eat much at lunch they were hungry by the time we left. We stocked them up with all sorts of snacks and drinks for the ride home.

Finally, take pictures and video. Document their first game. My kids had a blast going through all of the pics and video we took at the game (and all with our phones, too). It helped them remember things about the game that they wanted to share with us.

A new potty-training journey

2013-08-20T13:30:00.002-07:00

We didn't have the best experience potty-training our oldest daughter, so we decided to take it easy with #2 and let her decide when it was time. Lucky for us daycare convinced her it was time to kick the diaper habit. For weeks she has been going most of the day on the potty at daycare, but then refused to go once we were home. We didn't push it, just constantly asked her and encouraged her to go. She knows she's got all of the power in this situation and there's no way we're winning this battle.

Then last week daycare suggested that she come in underwear on Monday. We went out to the store and she chose a package of Minnie Mouse undies and walked into school SO PROUD on Monday. She was so thrilled to tell her teachers (and anyone else who would listen) that she was wearing "UNDA-WEARS!"

Monday she made it through the day at school with no accidents and wore a Pull-Up for nap. We got home and encouraged her to go potty, saw her grabbing herself and then told her to go potty, put her on the potty and she freaked. So we just told her to keep her underwear dry. Fast forward. She was helping daddy clean up and gather the garbage around the house and BAM peed her pants. He put her in a new pair of undies and then changed her into a Pull-Up for bedtime.

Tuesday she woke up dry! And peed on the potty first thing! She ran back to her room and picked out her underwear for the day (this is quickly becoming her favorite thing to do in the morning). Went the whole day at school with no accidents and wore a Pull-Up for nap. Got home and she had another accident after begin reminded repeatedly to go to the potty. Another Pull-Up for bedtime.

Wednesday she woke up again completely dry, but freaked out when I told her to go potty. So I just let it go and ignored it since she was on the verge of a meltdown. Ten minutes later she was sitting on the potty and then grabbing a pair of underwear for the day. She went the entire day without accidents at school and wore a Pull-Up for nap. She came home and went potty a couple of times. No reminders from us. She would stand up, declare she needed to go, and run to the bathroom. No accidents all day. And a Pull-Up for bedtime.

Thursday she woke up dry and went potty then got dressed for the day. She had one accident at school and wore a Pull-Up for nap again. We asked her teacher about the accident and it happened while she was playing and they could tell she needed to go, she was holding herself, but she didn't want to leave her game and ended up peeing her pants. This is actually something we still see #1 doing - dancing around while she plays because she doesn't want to stop playing for a potty break. She'll do that until she's literally about to burst and then sprints to the bathroom. After pickup from daycare we went to grab a bite to eat and then headed to Costco for a few things. We didn't plan ahead so we had no changes of clothes or extra undies with us. We told her she would have to keep her underwear dry because we didn't have anything to change her into if she had an accident. After arriving at Costco we immediately went to the bathroom, but she freaked out at the noise of the hand dryer. There was a kid in the bathroom who kept playing with the dryer and between that and the toilet constantly flushing itself there was no way she was going to attempt to go. We left the bathroom and I told her she had to either hold it and keep her undies dry or she would have to sit in her wet clothes if she had an accident. She kept dancing around and holding herself throughout the store, so about halfway through daddy took her to the bathroom again and again she refused to go and melted down. We gave up and just let her be. We were worried that she would have an accident in the car, but figured if she did we would just clean it. No big deal. Well, she didn't. She held it the whole way home and as soon as we were in the driveway she insisted she had to go potty. I ran her inside and in a flash had her pants and underwear down and her butt on the potty. And thus began the biggest meltdown ever. I think she had held it so long that it was starting to hurt. She was literally holding herself and crying and refusing to pee. So I walked away and told her I wasn't going to make her sit there. I went to help bring in the food and when I walked back in I heard her going potty. Big girl. I gave her a lollypop for going and staying dry at the store. Twenty minutes later #1 told me that #2 had pooped in her pants. Sure enough she did and didn't say anything to us, just walked around like that. She was really upset when I changed her and realized she made a mistake. We told her that she should have gone on the potty, but that it was just an accident. Another Pull-Up for bedtime.

Friday she woke up dry again! What what! And without a word she got out of bed, walked into the bathroom and went potty. I came in and saw that her Pull-Up was still dry and praised her for going potty and then yelled down to daddy so he could give some love, too. She walked back to her room SO PROUD and picked her undies for the day. She promised to stay dry all day and went off to school.

After our potty-training experience with #1 and the battle of wills we were never going to win, I have to admit I was hesitant to get started again, but it's been so easy (KNOCKONALLWOOD). I am a little worried about how it'll go this weekend when we're out and about, but I suppose we'll eventually have to rip off the band-aid. Now that she's been wearing underwear there's no way we're going back to diapers and Pull-Ups during the day. And I think if she goes all next week without having an accident over the night we'll stop the Pull-Ups at bedtime. All in all this has been a pretty easy potty-training and thanks to #2 I now know about every kid in her class who wears underwear, diapers, and Pull-Ups. I suppose we'll need to get her more underwear now. I tried to get our oldest to go through her underwear bin and pull out the ones that are getting a little small, but she FREAKED OUT and refused to give up a single pair. I'm not prepared to fight that battle, because let's face it, I just don't care enough about making her give up some underwear. Not a battle I want to win so I'll just buy #2 her own.

UPDATE:
She went the entire day on Saturday without an accident, which was slightly surprising since she spent the majority of the morning playing outside and then out at the town center in the evening. We didn't ask her to go while we were home and each time she either came to us and said she needed to or she just walked straight to the bathroom. When we were at the town center I was a little nervous and kept asking her and took her two or three times and each time she refused to go. Finally she asked to go and actually went on the potty. Told ya - power.

Sunday she went almost all day without an accident and even walked away from the play place at the mall to tell us she had to go. I'm so proud that she's recognizing the signs that she needs to go and is okay to walk away from what she's doing to go potty. Both days she woke up dry in the morning and after nap. If she's able to wake up dry every day this week we're going to take the plunge and put her in underwear for bedtime.

Finding a daycare, the basics

2012-01-18T09:42:00.000-08:00

Part One: Considerations

Finding the "perfect" daycare for your child(ren) can seem to be an impossible task, but there are a lot of resources provided by the counties and states to help you get started.

Daycare resources:
http://www.daycare.com/listing.html

http://www.dss.virginia.gov/facility/search/cc.cgi

http://www.msde.maryland.gov/MSDE/divisions/child_care/child_care.htm

http://educationcenter.dc.gov/ec/cwp/view,a,1306,q,581185.asp

Things to ask when visiting a child care site:

Basics, like hours of operation, fees, late fees
What’s the discipline policy?
What’s the sick kid policy (also, do you pay if your child is sick and doesnt come that day)?
What’s your staff tenure and staff turnover rate?
What’s your staff-to-child ratio in each class? And does it change throughout the day?
Will my child be in a mixed age class at any part of the day?
What’s your security and safety policies?
Is the facility licensed or accredited?
Is there a discount for siblings?
Is there a part-time option/rate?

Things to consider prior to selecting your type of child care (in-home, nanny, au pair, center):

Does my child need full-time or part-time care?
Does my child have special needs?
What’s our monthly budget for child care?

What things did you take into consideration before you started the daycare hunt? What other questions did you ask when doing site visits?

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Part Two: My Story

I knew how difficult it could be to find infant care in the NoVa area and had heard that most centers had waitlists for infant care that ranged from one to two years. Before we told anyone we were expecting our first, we started the almighty daycare hunt. And that's when we realized we should have budgeted a good chunk of money (a few hundred dollars) to spend on registration fees. Non-refundable registration fees. ::sigh::

We toured a few places, paid the registration fees ($75 here, $65 there, etc.), and got our names on the waitlist. I used to work in a daycare center before coming to Booz Allen, so I was aware of the things to look for and the questions to ask and was comfortable touring the centers and thought that would be the perfect place for our new baby. But as my pregnancy progressed I got less comfortable with the idea of leaving my baby with a group of strangers. And then a colleague's wife started her own in-home care and offered to watch our baby.

We had our oldest daughter at this in-home daycare for her first two years and then transitioned her and placed our youngest daughter in a daycare center back in July of 2011. There are, obviously, pros and cons to both types of care. Here's my short list:

In-home care:
Pros:

Cost - Usually the cost of in-home care is significantly less than the cost of a center (in my search I discovered that church preschools are also relatively cheap, but they usually only take potty-trained children, no infants).
More 1-on-1 care - The ratios are just so much smaller when you go in-home and at one point our oldest was the only kid there besides the provider's own young daughter. It was like she was part of their family.
Provider/teacher trust - I was so much more comfortable leaving my oldest daughter as an infant because I knew the woman that would be caring for her and knew she would be loved and in very good hands. That doesn't mean I didn't cry for two weeks every time I dropped her off, because I did, hormones will do that to you, but once I got over that, it was nice knowing she was with someone I knew and trusted.

Cons:

Interaction with others - There are usually fewer children than you would find in a center. Our daughter got used to be the only kid and wasn't quite used to sharing things with others.
Food - We had to provide all of the food, which takes a lot of extra time to put together in the morning.
Hours of operation - For some this may be a pro because some in-home places have extended hours at no charge, but ours had set times due to school attendance, so there were times when we had to leave work earlier than we wanted to so we could pick up on time.

Daycare center (specifically Kindercare):
Pros:

Structure, structure, structure - There is a set routine for each day and they always follow it, which helps tremendously when it comes to keeping a routine at home on the weekends.
Discipline - No, not beatings. But there are definite consequences to not listening or following the rules.
Food - They provide all of the food AND a set monthly menu.
Hours of operation - Our center is open from 6:30 am to 6:30 pm at no extra cost.

Cons:

Cost - Infant care in NoVa can range anywhere from $1100/month to $1700/month and in-home care can sometimes be half of that cost.
1-on-1 care - The staff-to-child ratio is higher in centers (though they have to follow state laws/limits), so your child doesn't get as much 1-on-1 time with the teacher. However, this is kind of a pro because they learn they have to wait their turn and to entertain themselves (always a plus for the working parent, IMO).
Provider/teacher trust - Unless you really know the providers at the center, you're not going to be 100% comfortable with all of them and in most cases you won't even know them all until after a month or so of your child being there. A lot of centers have set staff for each room, but they also have "floaters" who help fill in when regular teachers are out. The good part is that your child gets used to others caring for them. And you'll get to know all of the staff eventually, it just isn't the same as with a single in-home provider.

All in all, I was happy with our choice to put our oldest in an in-home place as an infant and I'm currently happy with the center our now 3 year old and almost 10 month old attend. When I was touring centers, I knew I wanted something that was on the way to work, but not too far from home, since we both work from home occassionally. The majority of the important things most centers have: planned activities, routine, menus, etc. What I was really looking for was "the feeling". it's hard to describe, but I knew I would feel it when I found the right place. I kind of just went with my gut. And that would be my advice to new parents, research your options, read reviews, interview the teachers and parents (if you can), but mostly go on a site visit and hang out in the room for a bit and just go with what your gut tells you.

So you've decided to embrace your little one's independence.

2011-08-25T10:00:00.000-07:00

Not too long ago, I said to myself in reference to the battles I was fighting with my 2 1/2 year old each day: "Self, if you're really going to let her have choices, you have to be okay with what she chooses. Let go."

And so I gave her some control. Over her wardrobe. Folks, here's what you have to look forward to if you have a strong-willed fashionista-in-the-making - just a few of her outfits she's put together. Girl's got great personal style.

Yes, some of these outfits seem a little crazy, but you know what? It makes her so happy to choose what she's going to wear and I love how uninhibited she is with "fashion" - she just wants to wear what makes her happy and doesn't care what people think. I really hope that kind of thinking stays with her as she grows older.

What kinds of crazy fun outfits have your kids put together?

My favorite baby app (so far)

2011-08-08T08:26:00.000-07:00

Shortly after I got my iPad, a friend suggested I purchase the Baby Connect app - she swore it would make my life much easier and she was 100% right. It made tracking all of my newborn's diapers and feedings a breeze and there was no confusion as to which side she had eaten from last or when her last diaper change was (you know how it is with all the diaper counting and the worrying of "did they poop enough today? why aren't they pooping?! oh my god make the pooping stop!").

You can enter how long and from which side they nursed, how many oz of a bottle was eaten, exactly what kind of diaper change there was (including the color and texture, which sounds kinda gross, but is helpful when the pediatrician asks you to explain just what you mean by green and mucousy).

All of that information is then charted so you can see their sleeping and eating (and pooping) patterns, which helps when getting them on a routine. Side note: our daycare gives us a daily communication sheet at the end of each day that includes when our daughter ate (and how much), her sleep schedule for the day, and all of the times that she was changed. I've been entering the feeding and sleeping info into the app and it helped me keep the same routine for her on the weekends.

I also use this app to track anything and everything medical and milestone related for both girls. It's super helpful when either of the girls have been ill. I just track all of the temps and medicine doses so I can easily relay the info to the doctor.

Oh? And you know how frustrating it can be to go for a well visit, have the nurse rattle off all of your kid's growth, and not have anything to write it down on? Now I bring my iPad and enter in their height, weight, and head size and the app tracks all of the percentiles for me on a nice neat graph.

Same with all of the vaccinations. I was terrible about remembering which shots my oldest had gotten and when. It's helped a ton to have them entered in the app (especially when completing paperwork for daycare). And you can email yourself (or anyone else) any of the records that you've entered in the app.

(You can see we don't delay any of our kids' vaccinations.)

There's really nothing I don't love about this app. I definitely don't use all of the functions, like the Mood and Activity ones. I mostly stick to the Medical and Milestone functions to track items for both kids and use the Feed and Sleep ones for my youngest. Most of the doctors we've seen have been pretty impressed when they see everything the app tracks and have appreciated the accuracy of the information I'm able to share when the kids are sick.

For example, our youngest had her 4 month well visit and received 5 vaccines: 2 shots in her legs and 1 oral. The next 2 days she had a low-grade fever, which we tracked and monitored and then 3 days after the vaccinations she ended up with a pretty impressive rash all over her chest and back. Since our pediatrician's office was closed for the day (and the rash had spread), we took her to Urgent Care. It was great being able to quickly pull up which vaccinations she had received (and when) and exactly what her temp had been and when the rash had started. It makes those kinds of hectic visits easier for me because I don't have to worry that I've forgotten any information and I can completely focus on my sick kid.

A+ in my book.

Without a schedule, I'd be lost.

2011-07-05T06:36:00.000-07:00

We're finally getting into a good routine with both girls now that I'm back at work. There are definitely days when I feel like all I've done is get ready for the day, work, and then get ready for the next day. Now, I do spend quite a bit of time doing all of that, but I've also managed to get into a routine that allows us plenty of quality time with the girls and each other.

Let's start at the end of the day...

I leave work and pick the girls up from daycare since the center is a few miles from my office. We get home, I unpack our bags, check the daily communications sheet from daycare, date and store the breastmilk I pumped that day, take out frozen milk for the next day, and label next day's bottles.

Once my husband is home, he makes dinner while I entertain the girls. After we eat, I clean up dinner and do the dishes, while he plays with the girls. After that we both get a little play time in together, then it's time to get the girls bathed and ready for bed. Once we have both girls down for the night (which is usually around 8:30 pm), we finish whatever dishes are left, set up coffee machine for the morning, and relax on the couch in front of the TV. We try to be in bed before 11:00 pm, but most of the time I'm ready to hit the sack around 10:00 pm.

And here's why: I'm up by 5:00 am to get ready for the day. I usually get up between 4:00 and 5:00 to nurse my daughter, but sometimes she sleeps in and I can get ready before waking her up. So I wake up, shower, iron our clothes for the day (which I could do the night before, but I don't because I feel like I already do enough LOL), and put on my makeup. Once upon a time when I only had 1 kid I did actually do my hair, but now it's almost always pulled back in a ponytail or a bun. I figure I'll have time to do it again once my youngest sleeps longer.

After I'm mostly ready, I wake up the girls, get them dressed, and nurse my youngest, if she didn't wake up earlier. Then I finally get dressed (I used to get dressed first, but then learned my lesson when my youngest spit up all over my neatly ironed work clothes). While I'm getting the girls ready, my husband is busy packing our lunches, putting coffee in my thermos, and putting together the daycare bags. My husband packs the cars and heads to work and I drop the girls off at daycare and then head to my office.

Then we work all day and rinse and repeat.

What's your daily routine like?

What we’ve been reading

2011-06-30T04:53:00.000-07:00

We're always on the hunt for new books - it helps break up the monotony of reading the same book over. And over. And over again. So I thought I'd share a few of our current favorites in case you're in the same position.

Hippos Go Berserk and Moo, Baa, La La La by Sandra Boynton
Really I love most of her books because they have a great rhythm that makes them fun to read. And they're short enough that our daughter has actually memorized most of them and gets excited to turn the page because she knows what's coming next.

What Makes a Rainbow? by Betty Ann Schwartz
This is such a great book for little kids and fun way to learn colors. Our daughter loves the different colored ribbons and especially loves the line "what makes a rainbow?" on each page. For some reason it makes her giggle. She's silly like that. The illustrations throughout the book are charming - I really adore the little legs on all of the animals (especially Mr. Fox).

I Know a Rhino by Charles Fuge
We've had this book since our oldest daughter was born - her godmother (who happens to love rhinos) gave it to her and it was an instant favorite. We've read it so often that she knows all of the animals/friends on each page and likes to point out everything they're doing. It's so fanciful and imaginative with it's tea drinking rhino, bubble bathing giraffe, and ice skating hippo.

What are your favorite children's books?

Ch-ch-ch-ch-changes

2011-06-27T12:40:00.000-07:00

My first week back at work came and went so quickly and I'm surprised at how well I managed the transition, both emotionally and physically. By the time I went back to work with my first daughter, she was sleeping through the night pretty consistently, something I was eternally grateful for since I really needed that sleep. This kid isn't even close to sleeping through the night. At this point I would take her just waking up once each night, just to have some sort of consistency or schedule, but she seems to like to keep me on my toes.

Which brings me to the handling the transition back to work thing. Physically I'm exhausted. Like the I-could-fall-asleep-this-instant kind of tired. But I'm learning to operate on less sleep (and am now taking my caffeine intraveneously) and make the most of my time both at work and at home in the evenings.

I was fully prepared to melt down after dropping the kids off at daycare that first day, but I ended up shedding just a few tears and then pulled myself together before I was even out of the parking lot. Now, some of that may have to do with this being my second time around or it could be that I was just tired and sweaty from the battle that was drop-off. All I know is that each day gets easier and easier. I still miss the hell out of my kids while I'm at work, but I know they're going to be okay in someone else's hands and it really is nice to feel productive and interact with other adults on a regular basis. Even if I spend a lot of that time talking about my kids. : )

My 3 month old has been doing really well at daycare. The first couple of days she struggled with taking a bottle and napping, but has since gotten into a routine and happily takes the bottle (and occasionally a pacifier!). She's also mellowed out a bit, by which I mean she doesn't seem to need to be held by only me 24/7 anymore. She still has her moments, but for the most part she's happy to just relax in her bouncer while I help make dinner or play with our toddler.

Speaking of, that toddler of ours hasn't handled the new "school" transition as well. She had been going to the same in-home provider for two years, so we knew this would be difficult for her. I left every morning with her either balled up on the floor or pressed against the glass door, crying her eyes out. It wasn't until this morning, day 1 of week 2 that I left with her happily chatting with the morning teacher. I couldn't believe it, but I am thrilled that she's getting used to our new routine.

We try to talk to her about "school" every night to prepare her for the next day and get her excited about all of the fun things she gets to do. This was our conversation on the way there this morning.

Me: What do you do at school?
Toddler: Sleep all night and wake up.
Me: All you do is sleep?
Toddler: And pick boogies.

LOL She's definitely got a skewed perception of what she does at school. How did you handle the transition back to work?

Potty "training"

2011-06-22T04:35:00.000-07:00

We haven't been pushing the potty training as much anymore, although we do encourage Stasa to go potty throughout the day and almost always change her "panties" (aka Pull Ups) in the bathroom to help her make the association.

Well, Monday afternoon she announced that she needed to go, walked into the bathroom, dropped trou and went. And as she was going she was applauding herself and asking for a "nummy num," otherwise known as a potty treat. Fast forward to this morning when she woke up dry so I asked if she wanted to sit on the potty. She walked into the bathroom, climbed up on the potty and asked for a book to read. LOL As I was walking down the hall to get her book she yells, "MOMMY I PEE PEE! I GO! I POTTY!" Now, she announces this all.the.time and usually there's nothing in the pot, but this time she actually went. And as soon as she pointed it out to me, she said, "I flush it down? NUMMY NUM!"

Part of me wonders if the new daycare has anything to do with this since she watches other kids go on the potty all day. Who knows. All I know is, she's so proud of herself and she's going to get it. On her own terms, natch.

Daycare Update

2011-06-21T08:34:00.000-07:00

I survived day one and more importantly, so did the girls. I'll blog more about our first week's experience at the end of this week.

For now, how did you cope with the transition to a new daycare?

Daycare fears

2011-06-17T09:00:00.000-07:00

Our toddler has been going to the same in-home daycare provider since she was 3 months old. She's almost 2 1/2 now. We decided to move her to a preschool daycare center upon my return from this maternity leave and our infant would then go to the in-home provider. Unfortunately our in-home provider is going back to school and is now unable to watch our infant so both girls are going to the same daycare center.

Now, once upon a time I worked in a daycare center for nearly 5 years. I'm aware of how things work and what can go on. I know how much the teachers love the kids, how much fun the kids have, how much they learn, and how well things are organized.

Knowing all of that, you'd think I'd be totally comfortable sending my toddler to a daycare center. But I'm not. I have so many fears about sending her there.

I worry that she'll get picked on or that her feelings will be hurt. I worry that she'll be too high energy for the teachers. I worry that the teachers won't like her (and that she'll pick up on that). I worry that she'll feel abandoned. I worry that she just won't fit in.

When I told my husband my fears, he told me I was crazy because I'm worrying about things that probably won't even be a problem. True, our daughter is one of the happiest, easy-going kids I know and the teachers and kids at her new school seem so friendly and loving. But you just never know.

Of course I have an entire set of worries and fears for our 3 month old daughter. With our oldest we were leaving her at an in-home daycare with someone I knew well and trusted and I still cried for a week and worried about her. I'm definitely worried about sending our youngest to a center. She barely takes a bottle, refuses a pacifier 98% of the time, and prefers to only be held by me. I've been reassured by my mom friends that both girls will do great and will adjust in no time. Only time will tell.

I survived a 12+ hour car ride alone with my kids. Where's my medal?

2011-06-15T09:47:00.000-07:00

I just returned from a 12+ hour road trip from Northern Virginia to Chicago with my almost 2 1/2 year old and my 3 month old. Alone. And I lived to tell the tale, although to be honest, my friends are definitely questioning my sanity.

I wanted to take advantage of the rest of my maternity leave and chose to drive since I was stretching out my trip over a week to visit both friends and family. Originally I was going to make the trip in 2 days, with an overnight in the middle of Ohio, but decided to leave after dinner on a Sunday night and drive straight through the night in the hopes that both girls would sleep the majority of the way. Boy was I wrong. My 3 month old is in that *wonderful* stage where she screams bloody murder when she's in her car seat. I talked to her pediatrician about it and asked, somewhat jokingly, how long could she possibly cry, thinking it would only last an hour or so. SEVEN hours later she finally stopped crying. Okay, honestly it was 7 hours of on and off crying/whining with many many stops in between to feed her, change her, and cuddle her.

My toddler was terrific in the car. I brought along a portable DVD player and the SpongeBob Squarepants movie, some of her favorite books and small toys and she was in heaven. Granted she didn't actually fall asleep until 1:30 AM, but that was partly my fault for not turning off the DVD player earlier. However, once she fell asleep, she stayed asleep until we arrived in Chicago.

Since I didn't get a solid night's sleep the night before our drive home, I chose to take it slow and do it in 2 days. We left at dinner time for the drive home and ended up stopping just outside of Toledo, OH in the middle of the night. Looking back I probably should have just kept driving since both girls fell asleep early, but I was so tired and needed a few hours of sleep. Luckily both girls stayed asleep through the car to hotel bed transition.

We spent the majority of the next day driving home with many, many stops for bathroom and food breaks. My 3 month old slept most of the way that day, but my toddler was a bit more antsy and tired of being in the car. The last 2 hours (and really the last half hour) were the worst. The baby was crying, my toddler was whining and even with stopping to console them both, it didn't help. I was so happy to pull into our driveway and see my husband.

I'm no expert on traveling with kids, but here are a few things that helped me:

Since I was driving alone I always texted or called my husband whenever I stopped to let him know where I was and did the same right before I got back on the road.
For bathroom breaks, I wore my 3 month old in my BabyHawk and let my toddler walk with me.
I was nervous about stopping in the middle of the night and sitting in my car alone to nurse my daughter, so I always parked right next to the gas station attendant's booth. They were always well lit and it was nice knowing there was someone else there that could see me.
Having a portable DVD player for my toddler was a god-send. Now, I know some parents don't agree with using TV as a babysitter (and believe me, before I had a toddler I was one of those parents), but man, it was so nice to have her fully entertained and quiet while I drove, especially since I couldn't really give her 100% of my attention in the car. Of course, there was no need to pack multiple kid movies because she insisted on the SpongeBob Squarepants movie over and over and over again. I could probably quote the entire movie now.
Bringing my iPod. Yeah, yeah, this is a given for any car ride, but seriously, having good music to sing to when the kids were crying or sleeping helped me keep most of my sanity. And go ahead and judge me, but Yeah by Usher makes my baby stop crying every.single.time. She likes the bass.

And some mistakes I made along the way:

Speeding. ::sigh:: I should have used cruise control because without it, it was hard to not speed and getting pulled over in the middle of the night with 2 screaming kids wasn't the most fun. Thankfully the cop took pity on me and only gave me a warning.
Stopping for lunch at exactly noon when the lines were the longest and my kids were the hungriest.
Keeping the portable DVD player on until my toddler fell asleep. I should have turned it off at her normal bedtime, but she was quiet and I was already dealing with a crying baby in the car and didn't want to add to the madness.
Forgetting my E Z Pass. I thought I wouldn't be able to use it in the midwest, but apparently the I Zoom now accepts both the E Z Pass and the I Pass. It was such a pain waiting in the toll lines to pay in cash (and once with a check when I couldn't find the rest of my cash).
Not packing enough caffeinated beverages or water. I tried not to drink too much because I didn't want to have to stop all of the time for bathroom breaks, but I must have forgotten the fact that I would have to stop frequently for the kids, so in retrospect I should have hydrated more.
At one stop I tried carrying my baby in her car seat since she was asleep and letting my toddler walk, but that was a big fat fail. My infant woke up as soon as we walked into the building and my toddler played the limp noodle game - you know, you're walking along, holding your kid's hand and all of a sudden they drop to their knees and refuse to move because they don't *want* to cooperate anymore. Fun stuff.

All of that said, if given the chance to do it again, I would.

The evolution of potty training

2011-05-23T12:13:00.000-07:00

The time had come to tackle potty training. We had decided to use the 3-day potty training method that everyone had raved about, but *gasp* modified it a bit to fit our needs. I really wanted to be done and not have a long drawn out process, so we committed to spending our weekend plus on potty training.

To start we had our daughter gather all of her diapers and we gave them to the baby's room and said bye bye to them. The 3-day method says you should throw them all away, but the miser in me couldn't do it and I knew I wouldn't use them as a crutch. No looking back, right?

After saying goodbye to the diapers, I replenished her diaper basket with 35 pairs of new underwear and I put her in her first pair of big girl undies. Since the first day was really half a day she only had 5 accidents, which didn't seem like a lot to me.

The second day she went through 10 pairs of underwear, but was doing better towards the end of the day. The third was even better and she went through about 6 or 7 pairs. I kept her home from daycare on day four because she wasn't fully trained and I didn't want to lose momentum (nor did I want to throw away all of the time we invested in potty training so far).

Day four went even better and she only had 1 accident in the morning, went on the potty a couple of times and had just 1 accident after her nap. So we kept her home another day to keep at it. I like to call this the day my child realized she's got the power in this situation. While she didn't have many accidents at all, she held her bladder and refused to go on the potty, although she would sit on it. We even attempted a trip to Target, had lunch and she remained dry the whole time. That evening we went to the mall play place and she had a small accident, didn't like it at all and happily ran to the bathroom with her daddy to sit on the potty and change clothes.

We kept her home another day. It was more of the same and we weren't making any progress so we sent her to daycare the following day armed with multiple changes of underwear and clothes and a portable potty. She had 4 or 5 accidents by 11:00 am. She hadn't done that since the first day we started.

Power. She has it.

So she was put back in Pull Ups (yes, I'm aware they're glorified over-priced diapers, but she associated Pull Ups with underwear and they're the cool touch ones so she feels when she goes). We still encourage her to go on the potty and she tells us when she's going and occasionally sits on the potty, but it's much more relaxed.

I finally realized she'll do it when SHE'S ready. Or rather, when she wants to.

Alright, so after allllllllllllll of that, here's a few things I learned along the way that may be helpful when you tackle the potty training beast.

Have a bucket filled with a mixture of water and Oxiclean - you need a place to put all of the soiled underwear
Have ready-made meals (or prepare meals ahead of time) - you won't be able to make real meals if you're the main one doing the potty training (especially if you chose the 3 day method)
Take a bath or shower during naps or at night
Borrow/rent/buy a steam cleaner for your floors - there will be accidents and if you have carpet you'll want to clean it
In the beginning, our daughter would pee multiple times throughout the day, even though we were only changing her diaper roughly 4-5 times a day
If you're used to having a moment alone in the bathroom, you definitely won't have that during the 3 (or more) days that you're potty training your child (although I haven't had a moment alone in the bathroom since our daughter figured out how to open doors)

Finally, get help. If your significant other or mother or friend or family member can help, let them. Good luck!

Surviving pregnancy with a toddler in tow

2011-05-06T10:50:00.000-07:00

To say being pregnant is exhausting is an understatement. And being a mom to a toddler is definitely challenging at times (okay, a lot of the time). Being pregnant while also raising a toddler is the most exhausting thing I've ever done. And so far it's even more tiring than raising both a toddler and an infant.

Have I scared you yet? No? Good. Here are some things I've learned along the way to survive pregnancy while raising your toddler.

Sleep now or forever hold your peace. No, seriously, take advantage of your sleep-through-the-night child now because who knows what will happen once the new baby's here. For us the new baby means our once great sleeping toddler wakes up regularly between 2:00 and 3:00 AM most nights. And believe me, trying to put a 2 year old back to sleep is much harder than getting an infant to sleep.

Spend as much time with your toddler now. Friends told us that once the baby was born our oldest daughter would become increasingly more demanding and good Lord they were right. But it's much more difficult giving her all of the attention and time she's asking for when we have to care for an infant, too. So while I was pregnant I spent a lot of one-on-one time with her and tried to remind myself to enjoy every moment...even when she was being difficult and challenging.

Get everything ready now. And I mean everything. We didn't find out the sex of either of our babies so our nursery was set up in a gender neutral scheme/theme that we could reuse for baby #2, but if you plan on changing up your nursery, do it now. It's a miracle if you can get both kids to nap at the same time and when you can, you'll want to do nothing more than nap or veg on the couch (and this is coming from the person that can't sit still and has a need to clean/organize all of the time).

Get thee to a spa. Pregnancy is rough on your body no matter what, but being pregnant while also needing to care for a toddler takes an even bigger toll on your ragged broken down body. I had sciatic pain from early on in my second pregnancy, which was only made worse by needing to be down on the floor to play with my 2 year old. A prenatal massage can do wonders to take that pain away. Plus it's a nice block of "me" time. And while you're at it, get a manicure and pedicure. You'd be disgusted if you saw the condition my toenails were in right now, but there's just no time anymore to get a pedicure, especially since I'm nursing baby #2 and all of our free time is spent getting things done around the house.

I'm sure there are other things you can do now to help you later on, but this is all my sleep deprived brain can think of right now. Feel free to share your tips!

Our Four Strollers

2011-04-28T11:36:00.000-07:00

We now own four strollers, which may seem a bit much, but each have their purpose. Let's take a tour - we'll start with our mall/indoor strollers.

For the baby we have the Baby Trend Snap 'n Go Single Snap stroller. We debated on whether or not to get the single snap 'n go or the sit and stand and ultimately went with the single because our 2 year old was starting to walk on her own at the mall and other stores. Well, as they say hindsight is 20/20. If I had it to do all over again I'd go with the sit and stand because our toddler often gets tired of walking (or decides she's going to walk in the opposite direction we are) and we end up carrying her or having to break out her umbrella stroller and it's kind of a pain to carry two strollers AND a bunch of shopping bags.

Back to the Snap 'n Go.

I love how compact and light it is and how easy it is to collapse and open. It's got a good sized basket underneath which can hold our overstuffed diaper bag, baby wrap, my purse, all of our coats, and all the extra toys and stuffed animals our toddler decides to bring with her.

For our toddler we use the Chicco Capri umbrella stroller.

It's lightweight, compact, and perfect for what we need. It's got a carrying strap so you can throw it over your shoulder like a purse, which we often do when our toddler insists on walking. We mostly use this indoors, so the small canopy isn't a problem for us, but I do wish the basket was a bit larger and easier to access. We didn't get the sit and stand snap 'n go, but we still want the convenience of pushing a double stroller so we're going to buy some stroller links, like these, to attach the snap 'n go to the umbrella stroller.

Now, on to our outdoor strollers. We try to take walks throughout the week, something we've been doing before I was pregnant with our oldest daughter. Honestly, one of the biggest things that swayed me when purchasing a single and double jogger was price, but I still read all of the online reviews and went to Babies R Us and Buy Buy Baby to "test drive" every jogger I could.

I finally decided on the Baby Trend Expedition single jogger and we've been so incredibly happy with it.

This thing is great for walking, strolling, meandering, whatever you want to call it. It's got a locking swivel front wheel, but we've kept it locked since we got it and would only ever use it as a swivel wheel indoors. Before we got this stroller we were using our umbrella stroller for walks and the day we took the jogger out I couldn't believe how little I had to work to push this thing and that was with a 20+ pound kid in it. It has a good sized basket, a large canopy, and a parent AND snack tray. The seat fully reclines so your kid can take a nap if you're out and about. Unfortunately the model we have is only compatible with Baby Trend car seats so we can't take our infant out in it, which brings me to our last stroller.

I was on the fence about getting a double stroller for our walks because I figured we'd just use the single jogger for our oldest and then carry the baby in one of our wraps, but after walking a few miles with the baby wrapped to me, I realized it would be much easier on my body to have her in a stroller, too. I started scouring Craigslist because there are tons of great deals on double strollers, but I didn't find one that was compatible with our Graco car seat. So I started doing online research and reading review after review. I finally found a double jogger that would work with our car seat and was happy to see that it was also a Baby Trend stroller: Baby Trend Navigator Double stroller.

This thing is huge. No, really, it's huge. And it's heavy. But I knew that going in - every review mentioned the weight and size of this stroller. But I wasn't looking for something compact to put in the trunk of my car or something to use while walking the mall. I needed something durable for long neighborhood walks and something that would take our car seat. This jogger also has locking swivel wheels in front and like our single jogger, we've kept the wheels in the locked position since we only use the stroller outdoors. Many of the online reviews complained about the front wheels falling off, but we have yet to experience that. You have to assemble the stroller yourself and when I put it together I double and triple checked that the front wheels were secure and then had my husband test them. This beast actually fits (just barely) through a regular sized-door, but I don't think we'll ever use it while shopping since most mall stores have tight spaces that the umbrella stroller barely fits through.

I was definitely surprised by how easy this stroller was to push with a 30+ pound toddler and an infant in a car seat. Don't get me wrong - it's heavy on it's own and definitely heavy with 2 kids in it, but I was expecting to really have to work to get it moving and really it kind of glides on its own. It's got two decent sized baskets, but they're divided as if it was two strollers instead of one. And like it's single counterpart, it's got a great parent console (complete with an mp3 hookup and speakers) and 2 snack trays for the kids.

All in all, we've been really happy with all four of our strollers. Do we really need all four? Probably not. We could probably replace all of them with a more expensive stroller like the Phil and Teds or the City Select, but we're cheap and every one of our strollers was bought on sale, with a coupon/discount, or as a floor sample.

When stroller shopping I strongly recommend that you do the following.
1. Start your research online. See what your options are at different stores and read all of the reviews that you can.
2. Take your kid(s) to the store with you. You'll never really know how you like the stroller if you don't "test drive" it with your kid(s) in it.
3. Check for sales. Babies R Us often has trade in days so you can bring in your old car seat, stroller, pack-n-play, etc. and get a discount on a new one. They also often send 20% off coupons in the mail and you can use that on certain brands. If all else fails, see if you can purchase the floor model or check to see if the same model is being sold for less on Craigslist.

Happy strolling!

The Holy Grail

2011-04-26T08:34:00.000-07:00

I've said it before and I'll say it again: God bless the vacuum and the swing and the swaddle. It's the holy grail for getting my babies to sleep. If my baby is dry and full, it always works like a charm.

First I change her, then swaddle, then feed, and if she's still awake and fussy I pop her into the swing (still swaddled) and plug in the vacuum. And it's like a magic wand was waved - she passes out immediately. And the plus? My floors are always clean.

Our new baby

2011-04-26T08:30:00.000-07:00

Things I've been thankful for this week

2011-04-21T08:33:00.000-07:00

I'm thankful for so many things this week, some more than others as I've been recovering from the "wimpy" Influenza B.

Thank you baby swing for being my arms when they just can't rock a baby anymore.

Thank you vacuum cleaner for simultaneously providing enough white noise to knock my baby out while also cleaning the goldfish crumbs off of my floor.

Thank you baby wrap for holding my baby snug against me so I can have two hands to eat my ice cream (and type blog posts).

Thank you Spongebob Squarepants for entertaining my toddler so I could get 22 minutes of uninterrupted sleep.

Thank you daycare for watching my overly energetic toddler so I can give the baby the same quality time the first one got (and for helping me keep my sanity).

And thank you cable TV for giving me hours of mindless television to watch when my mind just can't focus on anything serious.

Transitioning to the big girl bed, Part Deux

2011-01-03T05:05:00.000-08:00

My husband and I originally tried standing outside of our daughter's room at nap and bedtime to catch her before she got out of her bed. It quickly became tiring, frustrating, and worst of all - our daughter thought it was a big game.

NEW TACTIC! Now we get her in bed, read books, turn on her music, and then leave her be for about 15 minutes. Once 15 minutes have passed, we check in on her and almost every time she's in bed. And even though we can hear her running around in her room and getting into her closet, we still leave her be until the time is up. So far it's working much better than our original plan and we usually only have to go up twice now to check on her before she's asleep. Of course we did have to remove her diaper basket from her room since she tried sleeping with all of her diapers and wipes one day.

Good luck to everyone out there making the transition!

Transitioning to the big girl bed

2010-12-21T08:38:00.000-08:00

I know, I know, I've been MIA, but with good reason - I'm expecting and due in early April and have been working on transitioning our daughter to her new big girl room. We've also been half-heartedly attempting potty training, but that'll have to be its own post.

The big girl room. I knew I wanted to move her out of the nursery a few months before I was due to give her time to "bond" with her new room. We started slow, had the new room painted and then set it up with all of the furniture and then slowly started bringing in her stuff to personalize the room - clothes (we installed a new closet system, too), pictures, her piggy bank...

Over the next couple of weeks we spent a lot of time playing in the room, reading books in bed, showing her where her clothes were, and just getting her used to the idea of her new room.

Then a couple of weekends ago we made the final move - we transfered all of her blankies and stuffed animals and she took her first nap in her big girl bed. We were warned it would be a trying experience, but to have patience with her. So, we laid her down, read a book to her, tucked her in, turned on her music, and left the room. She was up and out of the bed before we could head down the stairs. We took turns putting her back in bed and it only took 6 times before she gave up and fell asleep.

Bedtime went much smoother, probably because it was near pitch black in her room at that point. We did the same routine: brush teeth, pjs, book, and then we left the room. She didn't get up once. And the same the night after that. It wasn't until the third night that she started to gain more confidence and somehow managed to get out of bed without us hearing her.

My husband finally came up with a game plan that's been working for us. After we put her in bed and leave the room, one of us stands outside of her door for about 10 minutes to catch her before she gets all of the way out of bed. She's been averaging about 3 times each night before giving in.

And surprisingly she hasn't once tried to go into her old nursery and runs straight for her new room whenever she can. I think playing up the aspect of being a Big Girl helped a lot and really, who doesn't like getting all new things?

Some tips:
Be prepared to spend up to an hour putting your child back in their bed
Be proactive and put everything soft (that isn't nailed down) in their bed with them - if you don't, they will
Remove any items from the room that your child will play with, like diaper wipes, books, etc.

Here's how we set up our daughter's new room:

Items and where you can get them:
Paint color: Behr Green Shimmer, 420A-1
Bed: IKEA, similar to this
Bed rail: Target, Dex Safe Sleeper Bed Rail
Bureau: Target, Circo 4-drawer Chest in white
Closet system: Lowe's, ClosetMaid
Armchair: IKEA, Ektorp in white
Bedding: Target, Circo Eclectic Quilt Set
Lamps: IKEA

Homemade projects:
-Curtains: I bought a simple set of cream curtains from Target and then edged them with purple seam binding to match the bedding.
-Collage: Our daughter loves looking at family pictures and we were originally going to make her a photo album, but opted for the family photo collage in her room instead. We hung the frame at her height and she loves pointing out everyone in the pictures.
-ABC artwork: I bought a huge blank canvas from the craft store, plotted out my grid in pencil, and then carefully painted on the alphabet.
-Handprint artwork: This was so simple - all you need is a frame, mat, scrapbook paper, felt, and glue.
-Chair pillow: I just used some old purple quilting fabric I had and whipped up a quick pillow cover to coordinate with the bedding.

Pictures of the room:

The mother of all stroller posts

2010-07-23T07:00:00.000-07:00

Strollers. ::sigh::

Quite possibly the one baby item you’ll use most often (apart from the crib), which is why you’ll either rave about yours or be stuck cursing every time you drag it out. Our travel system was a shower gift, which we thought would be awesome, until we started using it every day and realized how awkward it was to get in and out of a decent-sized car trunk. Then we saw another mom using a snap-n-go many months later and literally did the smack-the-forehead-wish-I-thought-of-that-first dance. When it came time to shop for our umbrella and jogging strollers, I knew I wanted to personally test each and every stroller in the store with my daughter in them. I’m glad I did because the umbrella stroller I originally wanted I ended up hating in the store.

Keep these in mind when browsing for strollers:
Ease of collapse – you may want to veer away from strollers with too many removable parts for complete collapse
Size when collapsed – check your trunk size, some larger strollers (like the travel system strollers) actually slide in easier when put in upside down
Height of stroller handles – make sure it’s comfortable for the person(s) who will be the main pushers

Once you find the stroller you love, wait for a sale if it’s a pricier one or scour Craigslist or eBay for deals – you can always find an abundance of lightly-used single strollers on Craigslist. Most parents selling them are only doing so because they now need a double or triple stroller. Moms of Multiples sales or consignment sales are another great place to look for deals.

Stroller recommendations from first-time mommies
Travel System/Infant:great for newborns and infants, who still need the support of their infant seat
$ Snap-n-go: collapses to umbrella stroller size, lightweight, has a large-sized basket, usually has parent cup holders
Note: check to be sure your infant seat is compatible with the snap-n-go prior to purchase
$$$ Graco Quatro (or other similar travel system): matches your infant seat, 1-handed collapse and unfold, has a parent tray with 2 cup holders and a child snack tray and has a large-sized basket
$$$ Uppa Baby Vista: collapses without seat removal, seat can sit either facing the parent, or facing out, has a height-adjustable handlebar (GREAT for taller moms and dads) and has a large-sized basket

Umbrella: lightweight, easy to fold, very compact when folded up, great for quick shopping trips and long-distance travel
$ Especially for Kids: under 8 lbs, has a removable canopy, very compact, no basket
$$ Chico Capri: 11 lbs, 2-handed collapse, zipper recline seat and has a medium-sized basket
$$$ Maclaren Volo: under 9 lbs, collapses with one hand and has a large-sized basket

Jogging + 3-Wheeled: great for parents that regularly walk or jog on trails or in the neighborhood
$$ Baby Trend Expedition: 2-handed collapse (and can fit in a compact car’s trunk), seat fully reclines, large canopy with peek-a-boo window, has a medium-sized basket, has a swivel/locking front wheel, has a child tray with 2 cup holders and a parent tray with 2 cup holders
$$$ Baby Jogger City Mini (is NOT a jogging stroller): 1-handed collapse is excellent, seat fully reclines, canopy is huge, it steers well and has a lockable front wheel (does not come with a child tray or belly bar)
$$$ Burley Bike Trailer + converter kit: seats up to 2 children, can be used as a bike trailer or jogging stroller, has an all-weather cover and adjustable sun-shade and has a height-adjustable handlebar

Happy shopping!

My favorite children's book series

2010-07-21T07:00:00.000-07:00

Olivia.

The best description of her: "Olivia would be Eloise, if Eloise were a pig." She has the most fantastic imagination and is full of Drama, with a capital D. I actually bought these books for myself long before my daughter was even a little zygote because I rarely laugh out loud while reading and this little pig made me snort with every turn of the page. And I must say I do love the books 100 times more than the television show. The show almost ruins them for me because I love imagining Olivia's voice and inflection for myself.

Here are the 4 I currently have on my bookshelf:

Oliva

Olivia Saves the Circus

Olivia...and the Missing Toy

Olivia Forms a Band

Teeth: those pearly whites

2010-07-20T07:00:00.000-07:00

The following are some questions that as a dental student, I get asked very often about baby or toddler teeth. Disclaimer: I am not a dentist yet, but I will be in May! If you have any concerns you should direct them to your friendly neighborhood pediatric dentist-- please don’t use this blog post for medical advice. Now that that’s out of the way…

When should I take my baby for his first dental visit?

The American Academy of Pediatric Dentistry (AAPD) recommends that every child have their first dental visit by 12 months. It’s an opportunity for your child to start getting used to visiting the dentist, and for you to learn about how to properly care for your child’s teeth.

How should I be taking care of my baby’s teeth?

You should start brushing once your baby’s first tooth pops through. The official recommendation is to brush twice a day (morning and evening, after the last meal), and to start flossing once your child has two teeth next to each other that are in contact. To brush your baby’s teeth, lay your child down with his head in your lap, and try to convince him to open (good luck!). It’s typically a battle to get your child to cooperate… I know this all too well. Just keep at it and don’t give up. I find that it helps to let her hold her own toothbrush while I get in there with a different one. I’ve heard that the battery-powered spin brushes can help to get your child more interested in brushing too.

When should I use toothpaste? Do we need the baby/toddler toothpaste?

The AAPD recommends that if you’d like to use fluoridated toothpaste under the age of two, only use a smear the size of a grain of rice. A pea-sized amount can be used after the age of two.

The baby/toddler “training” toothpaste contains no fluoride and is safe to use on young babies, but is not necessary unless it makes your baby more receptive to toothbrushing!

What should I be doing about fluoride? I’ve heard mixed things about it.

Having fluoride in drinking water can be a controversial topic because of the risk of fluorosis (mottled teeth due to excess fluoride). The key is to give fluoride at an optimal level: high enough to help prevent tooth decay, but low enough to prevent fluorosis.

If you have city water, you should be able to check online or get information in the mail about the fluoride content of your water. If you have well water, you can have it tested for fluoride content and then your dentist or pediatrician can prescribe a supplement for your baby if the fluoride level in your water is too low.

Help! My baby grinds her teeth. Is this bad? What can I do about it?

It’s normal for your baby to grind her teeth, especially when new ones first come in and she is trying to get used to the new feeling. There is really nothing you can do to prevent it, even though the noise can be very unnerving. It is common for baby teeth to have all kinds of wear and tear on them. Try not to worry about it!

A few more suggestions-- try to limit the frequency of juice drinking, limit sugar intake, and never put your baby to bed with a bottle or sippy cup. These suggestions, in addition to teaching good dental hygiene, will help prevent tooth decay now and later in your baby's life. Good luck!

--Guest blogger Julia, from Unexpectedly Expecting

Our favorite Seuss

2010-07-19T07:00:00.000-07:00

I know, I know, it's hard to just pick a few Dr. Seuss books as favorites, but here are the ones we really really love. Oh, and the other thing about Seuss books: there are soooo many and all of them are great books, but they're also a little costly, especially when you're just beginning your collection, like we are. We definitely want to have a complete collection, but can't drop $50 every week on books, so we've started buying one a month, which is perfect since our daughter is still under 2 and not yet reading the books to herself.

My all-time favorite Seuss:
The Lorax

I love this book for so many reasons, but mostly because the message is timeless and important and delivered in the most colorful of ways.

My husband's all-time favorite:
Did I Ever Tell You How Lucky You Are?

And our top 5:
The Butter Battle Book

Fox in Socks + Oh Say Can You Say (because we love tongue twisters)

Yertle the Turtle and Other Stories

Happy Birthday to You!

Some of our favorite books

2010-07-15T08:14:00.000-07:00

Once our daughter was born, we started buying all sorts of children's books, the funnier, the better. Here are a few of our current favorites.

Knuffle Bunny: A Cautionary Tale
by Mo Willems

Chicken Cheeks
by Michael Ian Black

Pee-Ew! Is That You, Bertie?
by David Roberts